NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Police shot and killed a mentally ill man who refused to drop a knife and came at officers near a Queens subway station on Monday morning, the NYPD said, as local leaders mourned the "tragedy" and slammed the police response.
Police had received three calls about a man with a knife "acting erratic" at 31st Street and 30th Avenue in Astoria, near the 30th Avenue N/W station, NYPD Chief of Department John Chell said at a press conference. He said the callers feared "he was going to stab someone."
As police officers arrived at the scene around 6:20 a.m., they "confronted a person in the street holding a large knife, they gave orders to drop the knife, they deployed their tasers, multiple tasers that were ineffective,” Chell said.
“At this point, the officers during our 56-second dialogue were asking the person in mental distress to drop the knife. He would not,” Chell said. “At this point, the man advanced himself at our officers. They were forced to defend themselves."
Citizen App video appears to show the officers aiding the man on a sidewalk near the station as an ambulance arrives.
The man suffered fatal gunshot injuries and was pronounced dead at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst.
“The NYPD tries at all times to deescalate and slow down these situations, but sometimes when you're dealing with an armed person—you can see here a 14-inch knife—we are forced, unfortunately, to defend ourselves,” Chell said.
No officers were injured, but they were taken to the same hospital for tinnitus.
The man—described as a 61-year-old Asian man—had two prior incidents with the NYPD related to a mental disorder, police said.
Several local leaders, including mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, released a joint statement in response to the shooting, calling it a "tragedy" and saying the NYPD response "is not true public safety."
"Our neighbor with a reported history of mental illness was shot to death by the police because the NYPD used lethal force after being unable to de-escalate a 56-second interaction with a 61-year old man holding a knife," said the statement from Council Member Tiffany Cabán, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez and Assembly Members Jessica González-Rojas and Mamdani.
The elected leaders continued: "As we await more details, here are things we know: there are glaring gaps in our city’s mental health infrastructure. There are glaring gaps in our city’s emergency response infrastructure, particularly as it relates to New Yorkers with mental illness."